This was the first full weekend that Drew and I spent in Canoa, so we decided to expand our horizons a bit and visit Bahia, which is sort of the county seat around here. After a surprisingly good and hearty (i ate Drew´s) breakfast we grabbed the bus to San Vicente. It is only about a twenty or thirty minute bus ride depending on how many stops it makes. This is always an open question on Ecuadorian buses since there aren´t really any stops. You just flag down the busy you want and then yell at the driver when you want to get off.
From San Vicente we hoped on the ferry over to Bahia. The ferries are really just oversized row boats that, according to the warning sign, claim to seat twenty people. Ours packed on thrity-five. The trip over was uneventful until we got to the Bahia port. Three Ecuadorians jumped up and quickly hopped off the boat. Now, a quick word about Ecuadorians and weight displacement. Ecuadorian aren´t exactly big people. Drew and I are four to six inches taller than the average Ecuadorian man and quite a bit heavier. So when three Ecuadorians jumped up from opposite Drew and I, you can imagine what direction the boat lurched.
Drew and I flung ourselves forward and an attempt to stop the boat from swamping. Drew shot the three idiots who jumped up a nasty look, which just eccouraged them to move faster. So now we have thirty Ecuadorians with paniced faces sitting in a boat, three Ecuadorians running off the boat, and two gringos sprawled out across the boat. We are making a great impression down here.
Luckily nothing else of interest happened in Bahia and we made it back to the hotel in time to catch some afternoon waves. The surfing conditions have improved dramatically over the last few days and yesterday was my first attempt to surf in Ecuador. (My single previous experience was in Hawaii a few years ago.) The waves were a little brutal and I spent an hour furiously paddling in and out of waves. I had a great time and didn´t even notice the jellyfish sting across my arm until I was getting out.
Today, I decided to repeat my fine surfing performance. That was probably a mistake. I was a little sore from yesterday´s workout and had difficulty controlling the board. I floundered around for a while until a large wave tossed me off my board and sent it spinning away. In the spinning process I managed to get my arm tangled in the rear fins of the board and sliced up my right arm. Amazingly, my new wound is perfectly parallel with my jellyfish sting.
The wave also broke the leash on my surfboard and sent it floating down the beach. So I waded out of the surf in search of my board, bleeding and humming the Jaws theme along the way. Next, I had find Drew. He is always interested in the new and oringal ways that I hurt myself, and I knew he would love this.
He took one look at my arm and said, "You are going to need stitches. Or you can live with a nice little scar." The following is pretty much my thought process:
1) It´s Ecuador. In the middle of nowhere. On a Sunday. Of a holiday weekend. The nearest medical clinic that MIGHT be open was in Bahia. So to get stitches requires me to bleed my way through a bus ride and a boat ride just to bleed in the waiting room of an Ecuadorian Hospital that may or may not be open...
2) The insurance paperwork doesn´t sound at all fun...
3) If scars are sexy then surfing scars have got to be the El Dorado of scars....
Drew patched me up and I thanked God that I packed that first aid kit.
From San Vicente we hoped on the ferry over to Bahia. The ferries are really just oversized row boats that, according to the warning sign, claim to seat twenty people. Ours packed on thrity-five. The trip over was uneventful until we got to the Bahia port. Three Ecuadorians jumped up and quickly hopped off the boat. Now, a quick word about Ecuadorians and weight displacement. Ecuadorian aren´t exactly big people. Drew and I are four to six inches taller than the average Ecuadorian man and quite a bit heavier. So when three Ecuadorians jumped up from opposite Drew and I, you can imagine what direction the boat lurched.
Drew and I flung ourselves forward and an attempt to stop the boat from swamping. Drew shot the three idiots who jumped up a nasty look, which just eccouraged them to move faster. So now we have thirty Ecuadorians with paniced faces sitting in a boat, three Ecuadorians running off the boat, and two gringos sprawled out across the boat. We are making a great impression down here.
Luckily nothing else of interest happened in Bahia and we made it back to the hotel in time to catch some afternoon waves. The surfing conditions have improved dramatically over the last few days and yesterday was my first attempt to surf in Ecuador. (My single previous experience was in Hawaii a few years ago.) The waves were a little brutal and I spent an hour furiously paddling in and out of waves. I had a great time and didn´t even notice the jellyfish sting across my arm until I was getting out.
Today, I decided to repeat my fine surfing performance. That was probably a mistake. I was a little sore from yesterday´s workout and had difficulty controlling the board. I floundered around for a while until a large wave tossed me off my board and sent it spinning away. In the spinning process I managed to get my arm tangled in the rear fins of the board and sliced up my right arm. Amazingly, my new wound is perfectly parallel with my jellyfish sting.
The wave also broke the leash on my surfboard and sent it floating down the beach. So I waded out of the surf in search of my board, bleeding and humming the Jaws theme along the way. Next, I had find Drew. He is always interested in the new and oringal ways that I hurt myself, and I knew he would love this.
He took one look at my arm and said, "You are going to need stitches. Or you can live with a nice little scar." The following is pretty much my thought process:
1) It´s Ecuador. In the middle of nowhere. On a Sunday. Of a holiday weekend. The nearest medical clinic that MIGHT be open was in Bahia. So to get stitches requires me to bleed my way through a bus ride and a boat ride just to bleed in the waiting room of an Ecuadorian Hospital that may or may not be open...
2) The insurance paperwork doesn´t sound at all fun...
3) If scars are sexy then surfing scars have got to be the El Dorado of scars....
Drew patched me up and I thanked God that I packed that first aid kit.
3 comments:
Nate, I am worried about your arms! Be ware of infection!
In other news, I am enjoying your blog. :)
You MUST post surfing pix. I'm having a hard time envisioning you catching a wave...Does Drew still have his beard? Do tell...
Ok, so far Drew has been sick and you have scars to remember your trip by.... Here in Hawaii, I see many surfers daily and tomorrow we travel to the N. Shore where I'm told the waves are in excess of 15ft during this time. Each person I see demonstrates a super command of the art of surfing.... None so far have reminded me of you....Aloha and Mahalo for the blog updates. Mark
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